There are a variety of types of conventional closures. One type of prior art closure includes a body for being attached to the top of a container. The closure body, which may be alternatively described as the closure base or base portion, defines an opening which can communicate with the container interior. The closure further includes a lid which is hingedly mounted on the closure body and which can be lifted up to expose the opening to the container interior.
For some types of products, it is desirable to provide a closure that has a relatively large opening normally covered with a hinged lid that can provide access to the product (such as fluent products, as well as non-fluent products), and that, when opened, can accommodate the insertion of a utensil (e.g., scoop, spear, spoon, knife, ladle, etc.) through the open closure to permit the product to be stirred, speared and/or scooped out of the container with the utensil.
The inventors of the present invention have discovered how to provide a novel closure wherein the closure includes novel, advantageous features not heretofore taught or contemplated by the prior art.